Holiday Geek Gift Guide – Gadgets

There was way too many things to pick from but I was able to narrow it down to 5 items.

First we have the Zune 80, Microsoft’s new MP3 player which has been getting much better reviews compared to the original Zune. A great new user interface and new software to interface with your computer all helps take the new Zune to the next level.

On the other side of the table we have Apple’s newest MP3 player, the iPod Touch. Using the same user interface as the iPhone, the iPod Touch is considered by many to be the best portable media player ever (although I believe that to be the iPhone).

One of the biggest problems that will occur when you start building out your home theater system is all of those remote controls. You could always buy one of those cheap remotes at the grocery store but those won’t give you the control that you may want. The Logitech Harmony 880 WILL give you the control you want, with an extremely easy set up, just hook it to your computer using the included USB cable, and tell the software what components you have and the software will basically do all the rest. I personally own one and it has changed the way I interact with my TV.

The Asus Eee PC is a super tiny laptop that runs Linux. Weighing less then two pounds, the Asus Eee PC is very easy to carry around with you, much easier than the $400 15″ discount laptops you will undoubtedly find in stores like Best Buy this holiday season. The Eee PC comes with 4GB of solid state storage and is priced at about $400.

The last gadget on this list is the Slingbox AV which allows you to watch the Television you pay for, wherever you are. Working with a wide variety of hardware the Slingbox AV let’s you watch TV from your house wherever you are in the world, as long as there is an Internet connection at both ends. The Slingbox AV is perfect for anyone who travels regularly and would like to watch some familiar television.

There may be one more in this series, most likely it will be of products that I consider to be honorable mentions but I don’t think should be at the top of the list. Check back later for that post.